Computers and computing systems have affected nearly every aspect of modern living. Computers are generally involved in work, recreation, healthcare, transportation, entertainment, household management, etc.
Computing system functionality can be enhanced by a computing systems ability to be interconnected to other computing systems via network connections. Network connections may include, but are not limited to, connections via wired or wireless Ethernet, cellular connections, or even computer-to-computer connections through serial, parallel, USB, or other connections. The connections allow a computing system to access services at other computing systems and to quickly and efficiently receive application data from other computing systems.
Interconnection of computing systems has facilitated distributed computing systems, such as so-called “cloud” computing systems. In this description, “cloud computing” may be systems or resources for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, services, etc.) that can be provisioned and released with reduced management effort or service provider interaction. A cloud model can be composed of various characteristics (e.g., on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, measured service, etc.), service models (e.g., Software as a Service (“SaaS”), Platform as a Service (“PaaS”), Infrastructure as a Service (“IaaS”), and deployment models (e.g., private cloud, community cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud, etc.).
Cloud and remote based service applications are prevalent. Such applications are hosted on public and private remote systems such as clouds and usually offer a set of web based services for communicating back and forth with clients.
Many computers are intended to be used by direct user interaction with the computer. As such, computers have input hardware and software user interfaces to facilitate user interaction. For example, a modern general-purpose computer may include a keyboard, mouse, touchpad, camera, etc. for allowing a user to input data into the computer. In addition, various software user interfaces may be available.
Examples of software user interfaces include graphical user interfaces, text command line based user interfaces, function key or hot key user interfaces, and the like.
In recent years, the use of cloud storage has gained significant popularity due to its ease of use, pervasive access, and security. For example, files stored within the cloud are often available to users through their computers, smart phones, or through any generic web browser. Additionally, files stored within the cloud are often stored within professional quality server farms that utilize various methods of data protection and redundancy, including, but not limited to, RAID configurations, data verification, advanced filesystems, and other similar technologies.
While cloud storage has provided significant benefits to end users, it comes at a high cost in bandwidth and hardware to the cloud providers. Cloud providers are conventionally required to purchase and continually update expensive storage arrays—that must also be redundant. Similarly, cloud providers are conventionally required to purchase and maintain large amounts of bandwidth so that users can quickly download large files that may be stored within their cloud accounts. As such, there is significant interest in addressing the technical challenges relating to efficient cloud storage.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.